Buffalo 5, Columbus 1

By Joe D.

What a tremendous start for Jeurys Familia who threw 5 2/3 scoreless innings while striking out six in Buffalo’s 5-1 win over Columbus. Familia allowed just two hits and two walks and at one point he retired eight batters in a row in what may have been the strongest performance of the season for the big right-hander. Familia improves to 5-2 on the season, but on the road he’s been a warrior going 4-1 with a 2.94 ERA and 36 strikeouts.

Brad Emaus homered in the top of the first to get the Bisons on the board and went ahead 2-0 in the second after Lucas May singled home Matt Tuiasosopo who had gone on with a walk.

The Herd would score their final three runs in the seventh thanks to some timely hitting from Corey Wimberly and the red hot Fred Lewis, and some shoddy defense from the Clippers.

Fernando Cabrera allowed the only run for the Clippers in the ninth, otherwise the bullpen did a good job holding Columbus scoreless in relief of Familia.

Herd Rumblings: This was by far the best start of the season for Jeurys Familia and it looks like he may just be mastering that changeup he has been working on for most of this season. Brad Emaus is starting to show signs of coming out of his season long slump and went 3-5 to raise his average to .234, one of those hits was home run. Fred Lewis continues to swing a hot bat, picking up three more hits and batting .313 for the season.

Harrisburg 4, Binghamton 3

By Tim Burns

For the second night in a row, the Binghamton Mets jumped out to an early lead only to falter late in the game and lose once again. The B-Mets scored all of their runs at MetroBank Park on Wednesday night in the top of the first, but four unanswered runs by the Harrisburg Senators gave them the 4-3 victory in game two of the three game series.

Things were going well for the B-Mets in the top of the first frame. After Pedro Zapata flied out to start off the game, Matt den Dekker doubled, and then Josh Rodriguez and Jefry Marte each tripled, plating two runs. Reese Havens then struck out, but a single by Juan Lagares scored Marte from third and gave the B-Mets the 3-0 lead in the top of the first. Those would be the only runs Binghamton scored in the game, even though they would go on to total up 12 hits overall. Throughout the game, the B-Mets had 14 runners in scoring position, but were only able to plate the three in the first.

Matt den Dekker was 3/4 in the game, and only a home run shy of hitting for the cycle. Josh Rodriguez went 3/5, and also needed only a home run to hit for the cycle.

Collin McHugh got the start for the B-Mets, pitching 6 2/3 in the game. All of Harrisburg’s runs were charged to McHugh, as he lost for the fourth time this season. Overall in the game, he allowed the four earned runs, six hits, and struck out five.

Robert Carson relieved McHugh in the seventh and pitched just 1/3 of an inning. Carson was charged with his second blown save of the season in the appearance.

Adrian Rosario threw a clean sheet in the bottom of the eighth, striking out one. In 5 games appeared in so far this season for Binghamton, Rosario has only allowed one hit and his ERA remains 0.00.

B-Mets Buzz: The rubber match on Thursday night in Harrisburg could prove to be a good one as the B-Mets send Zack Wheeler (5-2, 1.88 ERA) to the mound against the Senators Danny Rosenbaum (7-1, 1.75 ERA). Following the game tomorrow night, the B-Mets will head east to open a weekend series against the Double A Yankees in Trenton, New Jersey. In the lone roster move on Wednesday, Ryan Fraser was assigned to the Binghamton Mets from St. Lucie. In 19 game appearances for the StL-Mets this season, Fraser holds a 3-2 record, with a 2.08 ERA, striking out 18 while walking 7.

St. Lucie 3, Clearwater 1

By Clayton Collier

Continuing their series with the Clearwater Threshers, the St. Lucie Mets had yet another ballgame centered around excellent pitching and enough run support to dig out yet another victory for this ballclub by a score of 3-1.

Yohan Almonte took the hill for the Mets and had one of his best starts of the season. Almonte handed St. Lucie seven shutout innings on six hits while walking one and punching out three. With yesterday’s victory, he now improves to 6-0 on the year with a 3.69 ERA to boot and has only allowed one run in his past three starts.

For the second night in a row, Alonzo Harris led off the home first with a solo shot. Both Tuesday’s and Wednesday’s home runs account for Harris’ first and second on the season.

Come bottom of the fourth, the Mets were at it again, it started with a leadoff single by Wilmer Flores, a wild pitch, a walk to Blake Forsythe, another wild pitch and then a two-run Richard Lucas double to put St. Lucie on top 3-0, a lead they would ride for the remainder of the ballgame.

Adam Kolarek came in for his second inning of relief in the ninth and surrendered a leadoff homerun to Jim Murphy to make it a 3-1 ballgame before retiring the next three hitters in order to end the ballgame.

Lucie Logistics: Johan Almonte is now 6-0! After homering in back to back games, Alonzo Harris is red hot, batting .297/.409/.568 in his past ten games. Blake Forsythe’s hit streak came to an end last night, but he did have a walk in which he eventually came around to score on that Richard Lucas double. IN allowing a run while picking up his ninth save of the year, Adam Kolarek’s scoreless sreak of 7.2 innings came to an end. Kolarek had no allowed a run since May 21st against the Daytona Cubs. The Mets will look to clinch a series win tomorrow at home against the Clearwater Threshers starting at 6:30 pm.

Savannah 8, Asheville 1

By Sean Kenny

RHP Logan Verrett was great today, going six and one-third innings, allowing one run on three hits walking one and striking out four. Verrett has a knack for getting the groundball, as he received nine outs via the dirt and four via the air. The Gnats rotation looks stronger with every outing. LHP Marcos Camarena came out for yet another stellar outing, going one and two-third innings, striking out three and putting 0’s up everywhere else. RHP Jeffrey Walters came out for the ninth, and struck out one in his inning of work. As good as the rotation has been, the bullpen has matched them pitch-for-pitch.

The runs today came in the latter portion of the game, but five runs after the fifth inning will always be appreciated by the pitchers. T.J. Rivera went 3 for 5 with three RBI’s, and Dustin Lawley went 3 for 5 with one RBI. The bats have been consistent, and the contact bats have manufactured runs with good baserunning, sacrifice hits and just timely hitting all around. Very little to complain about today for the Gnats, with an error-free game as well.

Gnats Gnotes: Alberto Cordero is still struggling to raise his batting average, going 1 for 4 today and is hitting .167 on the season. Travis Taijeron went 0 for 3 today with an RBI, and has his average down to .279. The Gnats will look to continue tomorrow, playing a twi-night double header, with game one beginning at 5:45 P.M. Game two should begin roughly 45 minutes after the conclusion of the first game.